Cosatu shouldn’t stoop to DA’s level

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Cosatu should have heeded those wise words of Voltaire when considering what to do with the obviously dubious DA march on Tuesday.

Without impugning the motives of the DA, its march was not motivated by altruism but by egoism.

There is no doubt in the minds of many right-thinking South Africans that the DA’s march was not animated by good intentions but by ulterior motives. But for Cosatu to stoop to the level of the DA was not a wise thing to do.

Cosatu went for the bait and played into the hands of the DA. We know that the DA is a white party that looks after white interests, but when I looked at the marchers, I saw a sea of black faces and a sprinkling of white ones.

After the clashes between DA and Cosatu supporters, I heard some people talk about black-on-black violence. That’s how white supremacy (racism) works.

For us to dismantle it, we should understand how it works. When are Africans going to wake up from their deep slumber and stop being used as cannon fodder or voting cattle by the DA, ANC and Cosatu?

It doesn’t matter what we think about the DA’s intentions, its members have the right to march and express their suspect views openly.

Cosatu and the DA are taking the focus away from more pressing and exigent issues that plague African people like landlessness, poverty, unequal development, the property clause in the constitution and many social ills.